Martin Smith (17 December 1946 – 2 March 1997), was a drummer for

Gentle Giant Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-inst ...

and

Simon Dupree and the Big Sound Simon Dupree and the Big Sound were a British psychedelic band formed in 1966 by brothers Derek (vocals), Phil (vocals, saxophone, trumpet), and Ray Shulman (guitar, violin, trumpet, vocals); also known for their later prog rock band, Gentle Gian ...

. He played on the first two Gentle Giant albums, ''

'' and ''

Acquiring the Taste ''Acquiring the Taste'' is the second album of British progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1971. It was the final album by the band to feature original drummer Martin Smith. Production The recording was made at the following studios ...

'', before being replaced by

Malcolm Mortimore Malcolm Paul Mortimore (born 16 June 1953 in Wimbledon, London, England) is a drummer and percussionist who has played with Arthur Brown, Ian Dury, Herbie Flowers, Gentle Giant, Spike Heatley, Tom Jones, G.T. Moore, Mick and Chris Jagger, Oli ...

. Smith was a versatile drummer who specialised in playing

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

styles. Smith died on 2 March 1997, at the age of 50, of internal hemorrhaging. Purportedly he had been very ill with a blood disorder for five years. He continued to drum until two months before his death. 150 people went to his funeral, including many fellow musicians, and

Gordon Haskell Gordon Haskell (27 April 1946 – 15 October 2020) was an English musician and songwriter. A pop, rock, jazz, country and blues vocalist, guitarist, and bassist, he was a school friend of King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. The two first worke ...

(of early

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

fame) wrote the eulogy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Martin 1997 deaths English rock drummers 1946 births 20th-century English musicians 20th-century drummers Gentle Giant members